


Symbiotic

by magdalenelaundry



Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, Partial Mind Control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-11
Updated: 2015-02-11
Packaged: 2018-03-11 18:21:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3332168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magdalenelaundry/pseuds/magdalenelaundry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a while on Pandora Rhys and Vaughn finally get some time alone, but they're never really alone anymore, are they?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Symbiotic

It’s been a week since what Rhys can honestly say was the worst day of his life. It’s not often you get what little you’ve worked for most of your adult life snatched away, then get almost murdered by psychotic space-marauders, then watch 10 million dollars go up in literal smoke. Honestly, he should get some kind of medal for Shittiest Day in Human History. Thankfully, there’s been some small mercies. They’re currently holed up in an old Atlas warehouse that actually still has running water, so he got to wash his hair for the first time since they got to this planet. A planet which he thinks might actually consist entirely of dust and blood and maybe the sticky stuff on the bottom of movie theaters. 

More importantly, Jack has been mercifully quiet all day. Not even a peep. Rhys feels like he can finally breathe, that his body isn’t overstuffed with two separate people, that everything he’s doing isn’t being second-guessed and actively fought against. Ever since the initial incident, Jack has come and gone like a bad satellite signal; he’ll talk Rhys’s ear off for an hour and then recede for the next six for no apparent reason. 

Fiona and Sasha finally more-or-less trust them enough to leave them alone for a while at a time, since they’ve realized that they’re sort of helpless on this planet without them and there’s nothing for them to steal, so they don’t have much incentive to ditch them. At the moment they’re off scavenging parts to keep their generator working, and they’re been gone about an hour. Rhys doesn’t expect them back anytime soon since they’ve got a couple more hours of daylight to work with, so he and Vaughn have been using the time to strategize, and then after they were both so sick of talking about the situation, to sit in comfortable silence for a while.

Vaughn has worn himself out nervously pacing most of the day, and they’re slumped together on what’s left of a military-style bunk. They’ve made it a point to sleep in separate beds since they ended up here a few nights ago, not out of a need for secrecy necessarily - Rhys is pretty sure their bandit cohorts figured out what exactly their relationship was almost immediately - but because honestly, he’s frightened to be asleep near Vaughn. Frightened of the megalomaniac in his head, waiting for him to let his guard down and do who knows what.

They haven’t so much as kissed in a week; they haven’t done anything else in…a while. Stuff had kept coming up, and then this whole thing happened. Vaughn has leaned into every little touch they’ve shared since then. He understands the situation of course, but there’s a trace of hurt in his eyes when Rhys pulls away from them instead, not wanting to give Jack any ammunition to use against him. Right now he’s got his head resting on Rhys’s chest and Rhys wants so much to just let him fall asleep there, but instead he’s gently prying him off. Vaughn lets him, to a point.

That point is when Rhys tips Vaughn’s chin up, and instead of moving away, Vaughn shifts up into Rhys’s lap and kisses him, slow and questioning. “Please,” Vaughn breathes into him, and it’s not really a question anymore. Which is good, because he couldn’t bring himself to say no. 

Rhys finally,  **finally** , lets himself close his eyes and lean in, mouth-first, and the other man kisses him back with a relief that is kind of heartbreaking. It deepens almost immediately into open, wet panting against each other, and when Vaughn squirms in his lap he gasps at the friction. Vaughn slides his hand between Rhys’s legs and he moans, trying to stifle it out of fear of somehow waking up his unwanted guest. He still doesn’t really understand how Jack works exactly; what would provoke him and what would keep him shoved back in his cerebellum somewhere. 

He still hears nothing though, and he wants this so  _badly_. He wants to take their time, like when they were back in Rhys’s apartment on a Friday night and they had the whole evening to make out on the couch and spend an hour undressing each other. But they can’t. He has no idea how long they’ve got until someone comes to get them, or until the goddamn AI that Trojan-horsed his brain wakes back up. 

He lingers on the kiss a few more moments, trying to think about anything but Jack. When they break for air he pushes Vaughn onto his back, pinning him with his hips, planting his knees between Vaughn’s legs. Vaughn’s busy working off his own shirt, and as soon as there’s room Rhys gets his face into Vaughn’s chest hair, his mouth following the buttons being undone. “How do you want this, babe?” he whispers into the dip of Vaughn’s stomach right above his belt, hesitant, his hands shaking, but wanting to sound at least a  _bit_ confident. “Want you to fuck me,” he gets in immediate response, and when he looks up Vaughn’s face is all pink but his eyes are locked on his own. All the blood left in Rhys’s body goes straight south. “God yes,” is all he manages.

The silicone-hybrid lubricant he uses on his arm is biostatic, insanely slick, and thank fuck he had the foresight to bring it with them because it wouldn’t be the first time they’d used it in an emergency. He fishes the bottle out of the little compartment below his elbow and covers his fingers with it while Vaughn gets them both out of their pants like they’re on fire. 

The second they’re off he runs his real hand across the jagged edge of Vaughn’s skinny hips, slips it between Vaughn’s thighs, down to his ass. The tip of his index finger brushes against his hole, then circles it teasingly. Vaughn is as impatient as he is and they really shouldn’t waste any time but Rhys can’t help it; seeing the little guy bite his lip and shiver with anticipation is irresistible. He drops his head down to kiss Vaughn’s open mouth, teasing the bottom lip with his tongue until he finally pushes his finger inside and Vaughn sucks his tongue in to mimic it. He can’t ever seem to find the spot he’s looking for with just his index finger, but just it being in him at all is making Vaughn’s breathing short and his hand on Rhys’s back grip him a little too tight. Rhys pushes in his middle finger alongside the first, gets what he’s looking for, and Vaughn moans a whole string of expletives. He watches while Vaughn bucks up into nothing, desperate, and he has to keep himself from pushing him down and just fucking him into what’s left of this mattress.

When he adds a third finger a little too quickly, Vaughn flinches a bit, sucking air between his teeth. “Ah, I’m good, I’m good, don’t stop - just give me a second,” he exhales, but he’s still hard against Rhys’s hip. He stops moving his hand to let Vaughn take a second while he presses his mouth to his friend’s heated neck, and Vaughn moves his head to brush a kiss against Rhys’s port. Rhys practically yelps, and his dick throbs with it, to Vaughn’s delight. He laughs and rocks his hips forward to get him to move his fingers again, and Rhys spreads them just so to make the laughter die into a groan. Vaughn sets his teeth against his lip and looks down towards the fingers stretching him open. 

"S-sorry to make you go slow, but - " 

"Yeah, it’s been a while, I know, I’m sorry, it’s my fault."

"I was going to say ‘but if you don’t get in me right now, this is gonna be over way too fucking quick’," Vaughn huffs. Rhys laughs and crooks his fingers just to watch his friend’s back arch up off the floor and his dick twitch. Vaughn pulls him down on top of him with a surprising forcefulness, rolling his hips up to slide their cocks together as he kisses Rhys with his whole mouth. "C’mon," is all he has to say, an exhaled breath against Rhys’s parted lips, before Rhys withdraws his fingers, slicks himself up and pushes carefully, moaning despite himself at how good it is, how much he’s missed doing this. Vaughn clutches at his back, nails leaving little red half moons along his ribs. When he’s finally fully seated he stops, pausing to let them both get centered again. "Good?" is all he manages, a little breathless. "So fucking good," Vaughn laughs, and it’s the loose, easy kind of laugh that makes Rhys’s chest hurt when he hears it.

And then. And then - 

“ _Really kid? The dweeb_?” Jack hisses into his brain, like microphone feedback. “ _You’ve got one of those bandit girls checking you out all night and day and you’re gonna shack up with mathlete here_?”

Rhys alternates between panic and a flare of defensive anger.  _This has nothing to fucking do with you_ , he tries his best to shout into his own head, doing his damnedest to not let on that anything is wrong, resting his chin on Vaughn’s shoulder and slamming his eyes shut. “ _It does though, doesn’t it? We’re all in this together, y’know_.”

He can ignore him. He can handle this. All he can do is talk right? Jack can’t do anything but talk.  **He can handle this**.

“ _Jesus, you can’t even fuck right. Angle his hips up_.” Despite himself, hoping that if he gets what he wants he’ll shut up, Rhys slides his hands under his friend’s ass and lifts him up a bit off the floor. “Oh - oh, fuck yes, Rhys -” Vaughn immediately moans, and he wriggles a bit to adjust himself. Rhys gasps at the feeling, at the way Vaughn pivots back to meet him. Jack laughs somewhere in his head like the sound of velcro tearing.

” _Not sure what he sees in you, but damn, Fun-Size is really into this. Or maybe he’s just that big of a slut, moaning his head off for whoever sticks their dick in him. Ooh, tell him that_.”

 _Tell him what_? Rhys tries to think at the presence in his brain.

” _The last part, duh_.”

"Does anybody else know what a slut you are, or is this just for me?" He hears himself say into the hot thrum of his friend’s pulse, right above his collarbone. Jesus, why is he listening to this asshole? To his, and maybe Jack’s, surprise, Vaughn makes a long, chest-deep groan. "Shit, Rhys - just for you," Vaughn breathes, rocking his hips onto Rhys’s cock. He even grins a little. God, he looks happy, probably for the first time since they got here - his hair is messy and swept a bit back off his forehead, his face and chest are flushed all pink, and he’s smiling up at Rhys like he’s the whole world right now. 

“ _Oh don’t get fucking sappy on me, kiddo_.”

He ignores the voice, tries to focus on how good this feels, on the way Vaughn’s body fits around him, on the stutter of breath next to his ear when he thrusts up the right way, on anything other than the hostile presence in his mind. Normally he would try to think of anything else to keep from coming too quickly, but he can’t. He wants to stay in this as long as he can, away from his shitty job and from Pandora and from Jack, now a crackle of electricity along the baseline of his brain. It works for a blissful minute or two, where there’s just him and Vaughn and the heat of their skin where it touches, and the sound of staggered breathing. 

“ _Nice, nice. Kinda seeing the appeal here, kid feels like prom night. You know I can feel this too right? Cool symbiotic thing we got going on_.”

 _Ugh_. Rhys keeps trying to push the voice back into its corner, back into the static of his hindbrain, and Jack just keeps talking, annoyed at being ignored. He focuses entirely on getting Vaughn to moan underneath him, on feeling him pulse around him, on working up to fucking him as hard as he’ll let him, slamming his hips up into him. When he finally stops hearing Jack it’s because he sets his ear against Vaughn’s chest and the racket of his heartbeat drowns him out. He loses himself in the moment and before he realizes it, he’s coming. Vaughn wraps his legs around his back and pulls him in as close as he can, still fucking himself on Rhys’s cock -

“ _Stamina not your strong suit, huh tiger_?” Jack heckles him, sounding like he’s struggling to be heard from the back of his mind.

Vaughn is trying valiantly to stay quiet but Rhys left him hanging, and he was close. “Shh, hey, I got you,” Rhys murmurs, running his thumb along the soaked head of Vaughn’s dick and getting his palm around him. He forgoes finesse and just jerks him off, twisting on the upstroke and watching Vaughn struggle to keep from shouting. It doesn’t take long before he gets the “oh, oh, oh god -  Rhys, fuck -” of Vaughn half-stuttering half-moaning, and Rhys doesn’t even have to look down to know, just feels him come around his over-sensitized cock. If it were anatomically possible he would’ve followed him down again.

Jack hums with approval at the mess they’ve made, at Vaughn’s come covering Rhys’s hand and painted across his own abdomen, at the delirious look on Vaughn’s face when he finally gets his head up off the floor, at the little hiss Rhys makes when he eases out of him. “ _Bet he’s the type to really dig it when you come in him, yeah_?” Jack chuckles, low and sinister, and Rhys finds himself unconsciously sliding his fingers back down to where his cock had just been, Vaughn still stretched and slick there. “ _Probably makes him feel like he’s yours, that you own him_ ,” Jack keeps talking and Rhys pushes two of his fingers back inside, unable to stop himself, Jack’s voice making his head feel light and hot.

Vaughn moans at the intrusion, mumbling a weak little questioning “Rhys?” but not making a move to stop him. Rhys slides his digits in and out a few times, slow and easy, and watches, rapt, as lubricant mixed with his own come trickles out around them. “ _Real primal shit there, isn’t it? Being **in** someone_,” Jack’s voice thrums menacingly around in his skull.

And that’s when an icy shock of electricity runs down his robotic arm, and his metal fingers twitch.

He tries to jerk away from his own body somehow, recoiling from the awful feeling of having two nervous systems at once, and Vaughn finally realizes something is very wrong. The look on his face immediately turns to worry, and he bolts upright as best he can, reaching his hand out for Rhys. The arm, no longer his, slams open-palmed into Vaughn’s shoulder and crushes him back down to the bunk. Vaughn shrieks in pain, and Rhys has never been more terrified in his life.

“ _This is a goddamn warning, do you understand me? Do what I want from you and I won’t have to hurt your little boyfriend, because he sure looks like he bruises easily. I can play nice but I want to make it crystal-frickin’-clear that you are serving me at my leisure, not the other way around_.”

"Please. Please don’t, this has nothing to do with him," he finally pleads out loud, tears already welling in the corners of his eyes. Vaughn looks at him like he’s never seen him before, and it hurts much more than the ice running through his prosthetic.

And that’s it. Jack got what he wanted. 

The reverb cuts out and his head is quiet again. He tears his own arm away from Vaughn’s shoulder, which is already bruising a baleful purple. Vaughn tests it, wincing, making sure it’s not broken. They just look at each other for a long, loaded minute as Vaughn sits himself up against the wall. 

"…is it over?" Vaughn finally asks, and Rhys is isn’t initially sure what he means by it. 

"I’m so sorry Vaughn, I - "

"Is it over?" He repeats himself, searching Rhys’s eyes.

"I think so, yeah."

Vaughn sighs, still staring at Rhys’s face. “We’re gonna find someone to fix this, right?” 

"If it comes down to it, I’ll do it myself," Rhys growls, looking away, not sure what that he means by that either, or how he could separate himself from a ghost he’s been trying to be for the last 10 years.

He listens to the space where Jack has faded into, but nothing answers. 


End file.
